Decades TV network will air vintage episodes of ‘The Dick Cavett Show’

Dick Cavett is bringing his library of talk shows back to TV.

Decades, the digital broadcast network operated by CBS Television Stations and Weigel Broadcasting, will begin airing early episodes of Cavett’s programs starting in February. In Los Angeles, the network airs on the over-the-air digital sub-channel 2.2 and is available to cable customers served by Charter, Fios and Cox.

Cavett is the latest desk-and-sofa legend to see his shows return to the air on a digital network that features vintage programming and films. Tribune Broadcasting’s Antenna TV is currently airing episodes of “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson,” while Sony’s GetTV offers “The Merv Griffin Show.”

Decades, which launched in May 2015, is a nostalgia-based TV network that mixes its classic sitcoms and dramas with documentaries and a daily original news and pop culture history program called “Through the Decades.”

Cavett started as a daytime host for ABC in 1968 and the following year became a rival to Carson and Griffin when he hosted “The Dick Cavett Show” from 1969 to 1974. He never threatened Carson’s dominance in the ratings, but the program became known as a sophisticated alternative in late night with interviews of authors, politicians and important cultural figures from an era that spanned the Vietnam war and the Watergate scandal.

Cavett’s program won three Emmys during its ABC run.

Decades will also get the broadcast rights to the talk shows Cavett made from l977 to 1995 for PBS, USA Network and CNBC, which he owns along with his ABC program. The programs are distributed by the Santa Monica-based Shout! Factory.

Twitter: @SteveBattaglio